RICHARDSON, Texas - Marc Martinez drove in three runs, including a two-run homer that broke open a seventh-inning 1-1 tie, and senior pitcher Lance Nugent hurled a complete-game four-hitter Friday afternoon as Centenary downed UT-Dallas 3-1 in American Southwest Conference baseball action.
The series concludes with a Saturday doubleheader starting at noon.
Nugent (7-1) helped the Gents improve to 22-9 on the year and 15-6 in ASC play, dropping the Comets to 23-12. Derek Dallas dropped to 5-5 in a complete-game effort, surrendering five hits. He fanned eight Gents and walked two.
Jeff Schaffert led the Gents at the plate with three hits in a 3-for-4 effort, accounting for all but two of the Gents five hits. Martinez and Jemari James posted a hit apiece, but Martinez's lone base knock was the game changer.
Nugent dominated on the mound, stifling the Comets bats, allowing just the four hits in his second complete-game effort in ASC play. He fanned three batters in the win.
Martinez put the Gents on the board first, using a sacrifice fly in the second to give the Gents a 1-0 lead, plating Schaffert, who reached on a one-out single up the middle and moved to third on a James double.
The Comets tied the game in the third with a one-out RBI single by Zak Anders, but Martinez pushed the lead to 3-1 with his second and third RBIs of the day with the two-run shot to score Schaffert, who accounted for two of the Gents three runs.
